Duncan makes rest pay

NEW ORLEANS — Tim Duncan paused before leaving the court at New Orleans Arena, waiting a beat to savor the incredible thing that had just transpired in the Spurs’ 104-102 victory over the Hornets.

For starters, he was actually on the floor in the fourth quarter.

“It was nice to be on the floor, it was nice to make some shots,” Duncan said. “It was nice to get a win on the road. All in all, a nice night.”

Duncan made sure of that, throwing in a running hook shot over Emeka Okafor with 1.4 seconds to go for the winning basket Monday, as the Spurs escaped New Orleans with their second road win of the season.

He finished with 28 points for his highest-scoring night in more than a year, while Tony Parker passed out a career-best 17 assists to go with 20 points.

Together, with Manu Ginobili still out, the Spurs’ two remaining upright All-Stars helped them avoid a three-game losing streak.

“It feels great,” said Parker, whose sore back surely did not. “Your whole body hurts more when you lose. It feels OK when you win.”

Jarrett Jack had 26 points to lead New Orleans, which dropped its eighth in a row to fall to 3-14, while Carl Landry and Trevor Ariza chipped in 18 apiece.

The Hornets had no answer for Duncan, the Spurs’ 35-year-old power forward, and Parker, the Spurs’ 29-year-old point guard with a bad back.

Fighting off inflammation in his lower back that began in Milwaukee nearly two weeks ago, Parker picked apart New Orleans.

By halftime, he already had 11 assists. It would have been a season high if not for the 13 he had dished out in Houston two nights earlier.

His takeaway?

“You can dominate a game another way,” said Parker, whose team improved to 11-7.

For Duncan, just getting on the floor in crunch time felt like an accomplishment.

After sitting all but 5.5 seconds of the fourth quarter in a loss to Sacramento, and all of the Spurs’ loss at Houston, Duncan joked he spent the stretch run worried that Gregg Popovich would pull him.

Hoping to keep Duncan as fresh as possible for as long as possible in this lockout-compacted season, Popovich has devised a plan to prohibit him from ever playing four games in five nights again.

It is a plan sure to be met with disgust from Duncan.

“That’s just the player in me,” Duncan said. “You’re a competitor. You want to be out there every night. You want to be with your team. You don’t want to leave your team hanging.”

Popovich, however, sees value in taking a strategic loss, as he did in Houston.

Asked if he thought resting Duncan in Houston had paved the way for his big performance in New Orleans, Popovich started with a joke.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m just a friggin’ genius.”

Then, he answered — more seriously — with a question of his own.

“Do you think he’d have been that way if we’d played him in Houston?” Popovich asked.

On the floor against the Hornets, Duncan gave his answer. Playing on two days’ rest for the first time this season, he made 11 of 19 shots and scored his most points since a Dec. 16, 2010, win in Denver.

When the game hung in the balance late, tied at 102 after Landry had tipped in a rare Jack miss, Popovich drew up a play for Duncan.